The Tourism Ministry has further reduced the acquisition costs for islands and lagoons allocated for resort development under the cross-subsidy model across five atolls, extending discounted rates for two years.
In an announcement issued in June last year, the Ministry had initially lowered the prices for islands, lagoons, and land plots designated for resort development in Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Thaa, Laamu, and Addu City.
More than a year after that adjustment, the Ministry has now slashed the prices of islands in these atolls by an additional 25 percent. However, the lease rates for lagoons remain unchanged.
Under the revised framework, both the base rate and the rate per hectare have been reduced. For all designated atolls except Laamu, the base rate for islands has been lowered from $500,000 to $400,000. Additionally, the rate per hectare has been decreased from $35,000 to $25,000.
For Laamu Atoll, the base rate has been reduced from $800,000 to $700,000, while the rate per hectare has dropped from $75,000 to $60,000.
Furthermore, the "location premium" previously charged for larger islands has been rebranded as a "size premium," with significant price cuts. The premium for islands exceeding 41 hectares is now set at $500,000, down from the previous $1 million.
Despite these government incentives, investor interest remains low, even as numerous sites have been opened for development.
While several resort projects are currently underway across the Maldives, many have already surpassed their completion deadlines. Some of these projects remain stalled, with some islands seeing no physical work commence at all.
